How To: Refill Your Travel Sized BIODERMA

What You’ll Need

Bioderma 250ml

Bioderma 100ml bottle

Small Bowl

Needle Point Syringe

As a makeup artist, there are two things that bring happiness to my life: Bioderma Crealine and travel sized containers. Unfortunately these two things do not play well together, because for some reason Bioderma has designed their bottles making it impossible to remove the lids. Not only that, but the dispensing hole is so incredibly tiny that regular funnels and syringes won’t fit inside of it, and even if you seal off the edges it still ends up just bubbling over.

This empty travel sized Bioderma bottle has been sitting on my counter for a week taunting me. If I lived in France I could run to the pharmacy and simply buy a new one, but since the United States doesn’t sell Bioderma, I’ve been forced to get creative.

I tried rolling miniature funnels out of packing tape. I’ve searched children’s medical aisles for smaller tipped contraptions. Nothing was small enough. Eventually my Google searches led me to an “ah-ha” moment.. needle tipped syringes! Unfortunately, I then discovered how difficult these can be to buy and depending on where you live, you might even need a prescription.

do not do this at home

More problem solving was in order. I found myself perusing several illegal drug forums for ideas on obtaining syringes (don’t judge me). I even read an article called “How to Make a Syringe in Prison,” which was not helpful at all, as step one consisted of stealing from a fellow, diabetic inmate. If my internet history ever gets checked, how will I explain that I was simply desperate to refill my makeup remover bottle?

Finally, I discovered a wholesome Ebay store dedicated to crystals (linkhere). Among her list of items for sale was a blunt needle tipped syringe made for gluing on nail rhinestones. It was perfect, and only $3.50 with free shipping. I do wish it was a little larger but it gets the job done.

Have you ever attempted to refill a Bioderma bottle? How did you do it? I’d love other ideas.

I am a freelance makeup artist in Los Angeles working mainly in print and television. Makeup and traveling are my passion and my heart resides at La Isla De Los Monos Monkey Rescue Center in the Peruvian Amazon.

12 Comments

I had a thing from an old travel makeup set called a plastic bellows dropper. I think it’s meant to transfer perfumes. Turned out to fit perfectly into the hole on the travel bottle lid. So glad I kept it, because finding out I couldn’t get the cap off the travel bottle was insanely frustrating!

They sell Crealine (or sensibio) in the U.S. now at this site: http://www.beautylish.com/b/bioderma! I was trying to see if there was a good way to refill the mini bottles, but now I feel like it’d probably be easier to just re-purchase than to find a tiny enough needle or dropper! haha

hi there , i found the easiest way to refill bottle with in 10 seconds . first press the bottle turn it upside down put the head in the liquid you want to fill it with , now restore bottle to its original shape while by releasing it to reshape it will automatically suck the liquid inside it’s self , and it will be filed within 10 seconds .. tadaaa

I purchased some plastic “pipettes” from Amazon ($2.62/100). They work perfectly for filling the Bioderma travel bottle (and many other things)!
Tried to post a photo here… but guess that’s a no-no. They have 2,605 reviews on Amazon with a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars. Description says, “DMtse, Plastic Transfer Pipettes, 3ml; Ships from and sold by 5430net.”

You can use a straw to transfer solution from the bigger bottle to the travel sized ones. Didn’t think it would work but just tried it and it does- a super quick and easy process. I squeezed the larger bottle to speed up the process but it works like this- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ci8fn-Sin0